Defenceless Holly Willoughby was forced to beg for a pair of high heels – seconds before going live on air. Three minutes before Hols, 29, and co-host Phillip Schofield were due to host Dancing on Ice on Sunday night, she realised her dress had mysteriously shrunk by two inches.

Mortified at the prospect of exposing huge swathes of pale, hairy shin, pregnant Holly wailed: “My dress is slightly short! When I wear heels, it swings. I can’t have a swinging dress! It looks weird and you get cold ankles.

Rather than accept a pair of huge, manly flip-flops from a chuckling Schofe, Holly bellowed: “God, I’m going to have to go and ask the audience!”A woman in the second row took pity and lent her size sixes. I’m told: “Holly wore the borrowed heels all night. She discovered later they belonged to Laura Hamilton’s mum, and sent her a massive bunch of flowers as a thank you.”